Jim Harbaugh keeps taking shots at MSU — don't expect him to stop

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh ripped into Michigan State and Mark Dantonio during his bye week news conference on Monday in Ann Arbor.
Nick Baumgardner, Freep

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh high-fives players and coaches at the end of the tunnel after the 21-7 win over Michigan State on Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018.(Photo: Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press)

Good for him. He said what he thought. He doesn’t like the Spartans or think very much of their coach, Mark Dantonio, even using his own words against him when he said what happened in East Lansing on Saturday wasn’t a product of MSU’s team, but its program.

Why?

Well, maybe because it’s … a … rivalry.

A heated one. Like it has always been. It’s just all out in the open now.

It’s about time. This is what we’ve always wanted, right? This is a big part of what makes college football, well, college football.

You didn’t hear Lions head coach Matt Patricia say his goal was to beat the Bears when he got hired, as Dantonio said about Michigan when he took over at MSU. Or as Jim Tressel said about Michigan when he took over Ohio State.

In college, it’s often about one game, about an opponent you want to beat so bad that you circle them on the calendar a year in advance, as Harbaugh admitted he did a year ago after his Wolverines lost to MSU.

So, if you’re a U-M fan you can blame MSU for the pregame dust-up Saturday, for the increased vitriol the last few years, for the reason your linebacker, Devin Bush, dug his feet into the mid-field logo like a bull carving a trench in the dirt.

“After what just took place, that’s straight out of the (old Bad Boy) Pistons playbook," he said. "Do something to them, say something to them, elbow them, and then when somebody else does something back, then flop. That’s how I think about that. It’s unsportsmanlike, it’s bush league and that is putting it very mildly.”

And if you’re an MSU fan, you can blame U-M, because its players could’ve easily moved out of the way, because Bush didn’t have to dig into the logo, because Harbaugh didn’t have to take a shot at Dantonio on Twitter, as he did last December, when he congratulated MSU for bouncing back after its off-the-field issues.

Both fan bases would be right. The other side has upped the ante. But both sides would be wrong, too. Because … the other side has upped the ante.

Hey, I’m not advocating fisticuffs or actual shoving matches or any kind of pregame or postgame violence. And while Harbaugh said he worried that Saturday’s incident could have led to some, and I don’t doubt he meant it, his players could have slid out of the way as soon as they saw MSU begin its arm-in-arm march.

But they didn’t want to back down, either.

That’s the point. Each was trying to intimidate the other. To send a message. And if it looks like MSU didn’t mind that a handful of U-M players were in their way, then those players sure didn’t mind holding their ground.

As Harbaugh said after the game, his team wasn’t going to back down.

Call it gamesmanship.

Woody Hayes had his team knock down an “M” banner before a game. He also purposefully had his team warm up in the wrong end zone at Michigan Stadium.

Two years ago, when Harbaugh’s Wolverines played at Ohio State, the teams got into a shouting, trash-talking free-for-all near midfield, and all those teams were doing was warming up.

Rival schools have accused the other of changing schedules at the last minute and wreaking havoc with traffic patterns. Harbaugh said MSU kept changing the time it was going to warm up on Saturday.

“They gave us a time,” he explained. “’It'll be at 9:45 (a.m.).' (We) said OK, great.' Then, 'well, it might be 9:55, now it is going to be 9:55. That walk happened another 10 minutes after that. At no point was there any kind of heads up or, 'hey could you guys please leave the field.'”

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh high-fives players and coaches at the end of the tunnel after the 21-7 win over Michigan State on Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018. Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press

Michigan's Donovan Peoples-Jones catches a pass against Michigan State's Tre Person that went for a 79-yard go-ahead TD in the third quarter at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018. Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press

Michigan State cornerback Shakur Brown fumbles the ball on a punt return during the second half against Michigan at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018. Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press

Michigan State defensive end Kenny Willekes celebrates a play against Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson during the second half at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018. Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press

Michigan defensive lineman Chase Winovich prepares to rush the line during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Michigan State , Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018, in East Lansing, Mich. Carlos Osorio, AP

Michigan secondary/special team coach Michael Zordich, center, reacts to a play against Michigan State during the second half at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018. Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press

Former Michigan State defensive lineman and current Oakland Raider Shilique Calhoun is introduced during the first half on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018, at Spartan Stadium. Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press

Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio watches his team warm up before action against Michigan on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich. Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press

Ray Kopja of Howell, left, and Mike Diggs of Detroit, pose for a photo outside of the Spartan Stadium in East Lansing before the Michigan State game on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018. Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press

Keante Pendleton, right, shakes hands with his brother, Michigan State defensive tackle Raequan Williams, outside of the Spartan Stadium in East Lansing before the Michigan game on Sat., October 20, 2018. Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press

MSU denied this, and issued a statement Monday afternoon regarding its version of what went down.

"The timing of Saturday’s pregame tradition did not change from previous games, nor did the communication change between both schools," the statement read. "The team was scheduled to arrive at Spartan Stadium at approximately 10 a.m. and walked the field at approximately 10:02 a.m. As a courtesy, Michigan was granted field access before MSU’s arrival with the understanding from both sides that the U of M student-athletes would leave the field during this tradition ... but when multiple MSU staff members asked both U of M student-athletes and staff members to please move off the field for the pregame field walk, this did not occur.”

OK, then. Maybe it was a miscommunication. Or maybe it was orchestrated, though I doubt it.

What I don't doubt is that Dantonio and his staff had a chance to stop it, or hold off on the march until someone with the program had asked the U-M players to leave. Just as the Wolverines' players could have stepped aside for two minutes while the Spartans marched.

Obviously, neither side wanted to budge. Is that so surprising?

Remember, these two coaches spent 12 months prepping their players for a turf war. Of course they're going to stand their ground.

Again, as long as it's just chatter — and it was, despite initial reports that a U-M player got clotheslined — it's part of the fun, and part of intense competition. So, apparently, is the need from both sides to spin what happened.

Dantonio called the incident juvenile. Harbaugh didn’t like that word, either, and accused Dantonio of trying to “brush it under the carpet.”

For years, MSU felt disrespected by U-M and its fan base. And for years U-M acted like MSU was nothing more than lint on the shoulder, a slight annoyance

Whether that was true was always beside the point. MSU felt it. Dantonio seized upon it and used that to fuel his program.

On Saturday, the Wolverines responded. On Monday, Harbaugh responded again.

He arrived at his weekly news conference with a piece of paper folded into his pocket. He had things to say and wanted to make sure everyone heard him, including the folks wearing green.